One household.
Five lives opening out.

Two parents. Two daughters. Three sons.
This time, the census lets us see them together.

James McPadden and Catherine McNiff’s family · the Bridgeport branch

In 1920, the household crossed a page break: the parents, three children and a boarder. Now the recorded household fits into seven consecutive lines: James, his wife Catherine, and five children.

For James, the journey from Leitrim has become a family life in Bridgeport. For these children, this is the household they are growing up in. The story no longer belongs to one traveller.

The children of James and Catherine

Meet the five siblings.

Choose a sibling to begin their story, with their original census line close by. Ages are as recorded in this census.

1930 census · sheet 6BFamily · lines 72–78

Line 74 · our readingCatherine · 17

Detail of the preserved census. The highlight is our reading aid; the original is unchanged. “Edward Paul” is the family’s fuller identification of the “Edward” recorded here.

Catherine McPadden · child of James and Catherine

The daughter at the page edge, ten years on.

In 1920, we found Catherine on the final line of the surviving sheet. Here she is again, recorded as seventeen. She shares her mother’s first name, but this is her own place in the family: the eldest of the five children listed.

The later 1940 household does not list her. Where her independent life led remains a story to recover—not a reason to assume what happened.

The home around the names

An address, a rent,
a working life.

637 Main Street

The census records a rented home and $20 in monthly rent. An address and a recurring cost give the household a place in the city. They do not tell us how many rooms they had, how those rooms were shared, or whether money felt tight.

James’s work has changed in the record.

Earlier forms named drop forging. In 1930, the census places James’s work in a hardware shop. We can see the change in description without knowing exactly when it happened, why, or what it meant for the family.

They will not always be recorded at Main Street. The next chapter follows the evidence to Sherwood Avenue—and the unknown moving day between those two addresses.

Go deeper: each sibling’s records, questions and the full census

Household to individual lives

One census night. Five unfinished stories.

The 1930 census places all five children in one household. Select any sibling to see what the records establish, what remains unknown and what could open their own story.

Crop of the 1930 Bridgeport census showing James and Catherine McPadden with children Catherine, Cecelia, James Jr., William and Edward at lines 72 through 78. — Preserved crop · 1930 United States census · 637 Main Street · BridgeportOpen the image on its own

Selected life doorwayCatherine McPadden

Historical person · independent life narrative not yet recovered

What the household records establish

Visible as James and Catherine’s daughter on the surviving 1920 page
Recorded with the complete household at 637 Main Street in 1930
Not recorded in the Sherwood Avenue household in 1940

Where the story stands

The household records show Catherine growing from a child into a young woman, then leave her separate path unresolved.

What could bring this life forward

Birth or baptismSchool and workMarriage, later household or death recordPhotograph or attributed family memory

Equal presence, honest depth: every sibling receives the same doorway. A fuller panel reflects surviving evidence and memory—not greater importance.

Inspect the complete 1930 sheet and source context

Complete 1930 Bridgeport census sheet 6B with the McPadden household on lines 72 through 78 — preserved copy — SRC-506 · 1930 United States census · ED 1-9 · sheet 6B · lines 72–78 · 637 Main Street, Bridgeport. Independently acquired archival copy; the Evidence library links to its source. Open the preserved copy at full resolution (new tab)